Cobbinshaw South No. 3 Mine

Overview

A short-lived Tarbrax Oil Company shale mine into the Fraser Shale on the Cobbinshaw estate, begun in 1906 to make good the Tarbrax works' shortfall and abandoned in 1915. In 1912 a gas explosion blew out a stopping and killed two men (see Disasters, below). Its collapsed adit and engine foundations survive on the moor.

History

Cobbinshaw South No. 3 Mine was an inclined shaft into the Fraser Shale on the Cobbinshaw estate, south of West Calder, serving the Tarbrax Oil Works. The site had earlier held the South Cobbinshaw brickworks and oil works. At the Tarbrax Oil Company's meeting in May 1906 it was reported that twenty bores had proved a new seam over a wide area, and that the mine, begun two months before, was already down sixty fathoms; the shale was six feet thick, sixty tons had tested well at Pumpherston, a haulage way was expected by July, and 300 tons a day were hoped for within six months to meet the works' deficit.

In January 1912 gas fired at a safety lamp as men sealed off a gassy working, and the blown-out stopping killed two of them (see Disasters, below). By 1914 the mine belonged to the Pumpherston Oil Company, and that May a miner setting bars to secure a roof crossed by lypes was killed.

The mine was abandoned in 1915. It was never shown on the Ordnance Survey maps, but on the moor a partly collapsed adit, the foundations and mounting bolts of the winding engine and other brick foundations survive, with the line of a haulage linking it to Cobbinshaw Nos. 1 and 2.

Geology

The Fraser Shale, about six feet thick; firedamp in the workings; roof crossed by lypes.

Workings

An inclined shaft with a winding engine and a haulage way to Cobbinshaw Nos. 1 and 2; stoppings to seal gassy workings.

Closure

Abandoned in 1915.

What remains

Moorland, with a partly collapsed adit and the foundations of the winding engine and other machinery.

A partly collapsed adit; winding engine foundations and mounting bolts; brick foundations, possibly of a haulage engine.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Tarbrax Oil Shale Mine — Both were Tarbrax Oil Company workings supplying Tarbrax Oil Works; No. 3 was opened to meet the works' shortfall.

Disasters & major incidents

• Cobbinshaw South mine explosion, 1912
  January 1912 (20th or 25th) · Explosion · 2 fatalities
  In January 1912 a fireman and two other men were sealing off a gassy part of the Tarbrax Oil Company's Cobbinshaw No. 3 shale mine with a stopping, working with safety lamps that had no bonnets. With the stopping nearly finished, the gas fired and blew it out, and its stones killed the fireman, Robert McArdle, and John Scanton and injured the third man.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Cobbinshaw South No. 3 Mine opened in 1907. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• In May 1906 the Tarbrax Oil Company reported that the new mine on the Cobbinshaw estate, begun two months before, was already down sixty fathoms. ¹
• Cobbinshaw South No. 3 Mine opened in 1907. (disputed) ¹
• The Pumpherston Oil Co. Ltd owned the mine in 1914. ²
• Its Fraser Shale workings were abandoned in 1915. ^1,3
• A partly collapsed adit and winding engine foundations survive on the moor. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Cobbinshaw South No.3 mine — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Cobbinshaw, No.3 Mine, 1914 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Cobbinshaw South No. 3, Fraser, abandoned 1915 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Cobbinshaw, No.3 Mine, 1912 (McArdle) — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Cobbinshaw, No.3 Mine, 1912 (Scanton) — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026